Follow Tony, Jana, and Leo as we zoom around the country taking "very important stuff" from one place to another!

Sunday, October 19, 2008

OMG. . . winter is coming!

We passed snow on the roadside yesterday in Wyoming and it is getting COLD at night. The weather is wonderful though and we are practicing some things for our winter driving. Our total allowable weight (Gross Vehicle Weight) is 80,000 pounds. We are currently weighing out at 79,020 pounds! This is the heaviest we have ever been - we actually had to think about how much fuel to put in and decided on 120 gallons which weighed in at 1,000 pounds. I did get to pull this weight up Cabbage Hill (my nemesis from last winter) and did great. Getting to pull that much weight up the hill in clear sunny weather was a breeze compared to slogging up it in the snow and ice last year. The weather in Oregon, Idaho and Utah can change in the blink of an eye and it is good to start thinking about these things early. I say early, but read that a Con-Way driver has already had to chain up this year...ICK.

We are headed into Joplin for some winterizing on the truck and ourselves. One of the most important things we will do is take all the chains out of the chainbox and lay them out and inspect them. Then we will practice putting them on again (just to remind us of how bad we hate doing it!). I'll take pictures and post them.

We are winterizing ourselves as well. Taking most of the summer clothes off the truck and brining the warm woolies on. I have ordered snow boots for Tony and I and we will pick those up as well. Leo already has snow boots, but refused to wear them last year - we will work on that this year again!

1 comment:

I read online that a gallon of diesel is around 7.8 lbs. I was going to say 8 lbs. because I'd had this conversation once - but I know it depends on the temperature of the fuel and other factors in its composition.

I guess I would go with 8 lbs. a gallon to be safe. And yeah, Cabbage is another challenge - I don't think I've ever done it in the snow. I've done it dry, but Ed usually takes the wheel in really inclement weather.